Normally these threads are started draft night. And if I hadn't been out at a draft party I probably would have done it myself. Anyway, my initial thoughts:

Winners

New Orleans- Obviously they got the Unibrower, but i love the Austin Rivers selection too. If they can turn around and work out a Gordon for Granger swap with Indy they may be in the playoff picture next year. And if they can Williams into signing then contention is basically a year away.

Philadelphia- When I was growing up these guys were Boston's real rival, and I used to hate them. It's hard for me to hate them these days because I love the guys on this team, and walking away from draft night with Moe Harkless & Arnett Moultrie is huge (especially since I expect them to amnesty Brand).

Boston- Sullinger slips to them at 21, which would seem to spell an end to the Celtics career of the guy that would have been the surefire #1 pick if only he were 50lbs bigger, and they use 22 on Melo. Normally that'd be a mixed bag except that intial reports (including quotes from the front office) indicate that the Hawks love Melo, so I'm viewing him as Josh Smith bait. And if that works this draft is a huge win for Boston. Kris Joseph is Mikael Pietrus insurance, and probably spells the end of the E'Twan Moore era. I guess he won't be starting in Boston after all either.

Detroit- At #9 you have to take a swing at Drummond. If he pans out they've got two starting quality NBA centers, which makes it a lot easier to take the next step (because teams are always looking for centers). I also love their second round. I'm a big believer in Khris Middleton and think that he can be an above average NBA starter. I also love Kim English, who I expect to have a decent career as a backup 2.

Toronto- I'm probably one of the few people outside Raptor Nation that likes their draft. After years of seeing DeMar DeRozan's masonry getting to see a shooting guard that can actually shoot will probably be a novelty for Toronto fans. I also love Quincy Acy. He's the sort of swing forward that every team needs on their bench.

Charlotte- Gained a couple of real solid wings to go along with Benji Gordon & Gerry Henderson. Playing time for all these guys is destined to be a problem, though.

Incomplete

Chicago- Rose is out so they drafted a future backup point guard. Tough to say how Teague works out under the circumstances.

Cleveland- Waiters at #4 rates a WTF?, doubly so since he seems the exact opposite of what you'd be looking for in a running mate for Kyrie Irving. Tyler Zeller will probably be a decent starting center, though.

Houston- If Lamb & White are part of a package to land Howard, this is a great draft. If Houston's keeping all of them someone needs to lace Morey's smart water with a massive dose of insecticide.

Losers

Portland- You have the chance to trade #6 for a damned good NBA point guard, and you desperately need a damned good NBA point guard. What do you do? Why hold the pick and draft a guy that you pray will one day be as good as the guy you were offered is now. Of course, while you spend the next 3-4 years waiting on the new guy to develop your keystone player will just be getting older and you'll waste a good portion of his prime, but you're the Incrediblazers! And Incrediblazers don't ever trade kids.

So, you're Meyers Leonard, you're athletic, seven feet tall, a bad honky mofo. The future's bright, right? Sure you've had a knee injury and a stress fracture in the foot, but all you need to do is play reasonably well for the next four years and someone will offer you $10-$12 million per year. What could possibly go wrong? Enter the Trailblazer Curse. Pity, Mr. Leonard. You coulda been a contender. Seriously, Portland, What the ****? Have you not paid attention to your franchise's history? Don't ****ing draft a center. Just don't do it. Even Bill Walton could only hold off that curse for a few years. And only then by the power of that beard. Christ it hunted down and killed Arvydas Sabonis despite his best attempts to escape it.

Phoenix- Kendall Marshall? Really?

Denver- Ivanna Fournier? Are they expecting to play in the WNBA? Izzit Turkeymaltz? Yes. What a terrible idea for a beer.

Accused of amassing an 18-gun arsenal to protect his drug business, Bjorkstam is said to have defended Swift to police, describing him as a "good guy" who helped him try to collect a heroin debt but did not deal drugs himself.

"People have been ripping me off," Bjorkstam told police, according to charging papers. "Rob and I are trying to put a stop to that."

i think boston did well. sullinger at 21 is a great pick and their other guys all should have a shot at playing a specific role.

dallas cheaply filled some roster spots with guys who could excel in limited roles. if free agency works out in their favor, they did great. if not, they'd probably rather have gotten a higher caliber player.

i like detroit's 2nd rounders. drummond was great value at 9 and is a really good fit next to monroe. in the likely event that he doesn't pan out, hopefully for their sake they get something in a trade instead of giving him a deandre jordan contract.

really like golden state's draft. green was great value in the 2nd. festus gives them some bogut insurance. barnes fills a need and has star potential.

love the rockets draft from a talent collection standpoint. overall it's going to all depend on where things go from here.

thunder got great value. i don't expect anything out of perry jones, but still a very good pick.

i like toronto's draft too. acy can be a role player in the league and ross was my favorite swing guy still available.

don't like the cavs draft at all. nothing good to say about it. same with the pacers.

I would add Sacramento as a winner. I love the combination of Cousins/Thomas Robinson. Washington should be a winner as well. Wall/Beal is a great backcourt foundation to go with what they're doing up front.

Detroit- At #9 you have to take a swing at Drummond. If he pans out they've got two starting quality NBA centers, which makes it a lot easier to take the next step (because teams are always looking for centers).

Is it just me, or is Monroe skilled enough to play as a full-sized power forward? If Drummond pans out, they'd be able to keep Monroe at the four and make teams absolutely miserable inside. I don't think I'd be looking to trade him.

Absolutely love what the Hornets did. Davis is a no brainer, but bringing Rivers in as well makes this an A+, franchise-changing draft.

I think Washington put themselves in the playoffs next year by getting Beal. They got rid of the knuckleheads (Blatche better not be back), they started to gel and play better as a unit last year. Nene was a great pickup, guys like Singleton and Booker are young, talented and willing to do the dirty work and the small things to win, Vesely is talented, Crawford can light it up. If Beal comes in and does what he's capable of doing, it's all on Wall to lead this team to victories now. He has the pieces, he has enough experience at this level where it's now time to start winning.

I hate what Portland did, they're headed nowhere really fast. Puzzling picks, a couple reaches in the lottery and not much direction.

I hate Cleveland picking Waiters, but love them getting Zeller. How Meyers Leonard went ahead of Tyler Zeller is beyond me, but the Cavs should be ecstatic with that.

I think Phoenix got Marshall because all their prospects were taken, Waiters/Ross/Rivers/Lamb. The cupboard was really bare at that point.

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"If you've ever seen Iverson play in person, you know that his improvisational skills are amazing. Baron Davis calls him unguardable. He's a killer on the fast break. One on one, even one on two, when the guy they call the Answer is on a one-way trip to the basket, you better just foul him. People can hate all day about the number of shot attempts. But, damn, give him props for even getting them up. He's small enough to have every shot contested. That 39% shooting sounds terrible to the regular reader, but have you seen these NBA players lately?"

its even fournier not ivana.. also i dont really like the rivers pick.. he is just like EG , they both are the same player.. non of them is a PG .. bad pick.. plumlee is for sure the worst pick of the draft .. dont like the ross pick either

New Orleans- Obviously they got the Unibrower, but i love the Austin Rivers selection too. If they can turn around and work out a Gordon for Granger swap with Indy they may be in the playoff picture next year. And if they can Williams into signing then contention is basically a year away.

I didn't like the Rivers pick very much. They have not shown any interest in a Gordon sign and trade. Deron Williams has already signed with Brooklyn. They overpaid a role player (Ryan Anderson) who is great at hitting open jumpers without actually having anyone to draw double teams or penetrate and kick to him. Oh, and they are still pretending Austin Rivers can help them at the PG position. Ouch.

The Anderson signing is indeed bizarre, because Davis' highest and best use would be in a prime Garnett/Josh Smith type roving engine of defensive destruction role, and instead Demps is going to get him beat to piss in the post. It's almost like he's actually working for another team and doing his best to undermine the Hornets. They had no choice on Gordon, though, they couldn't let him walk and due to the CBA couldn't trade him until next summer once he signed the offer sheet. So I have no beef with them letting Rivers come off the bench for a year while they try to build trade value with E-Go. In the long term I think Rivers is the better player, anyway. Maybe they're hoping to package Anderson and Gordon for a center next summer?

Accused of amassing an 18-gun arsenal to protect his drug business, Bjorkstam is said to have defended Swift to police, describing him as a "good guy" who helped him try to collect a heroin debt but did not deal drugs himself.

"People have been ripping me off," Bjorkstam told police, according to charging papers. "Rob and I are trying to put a stop to that."

The Anderson signing is indeed bizarre, because Davis' highest and best use would be in a prime Garnett/Josh Smith type roving engine of defensive destruction role, and instead Demps is going to get him beat to piss in the post. It's almost like he's actually working for another team and doing his best to undermine the Hornets. They had no choice on Gordon, though, they couldn't let him walk and due to the CBA couldn't trade him until next summer once he signed the offer sheet. So I have no beef with them letting Rivers come off the bench for a year while they try to build trade value with E-Go. In the long term I think Rivers is the better player, anyway. Maybe they're hoping to package Anderson and Gordon for a center next summer?

Cant really see rivers being better than EG , EG is a much better D player and we shouldn't even open a discussion on who is the better atlethic guy between those 2... anderson is also a weird move.. its not like Davis is a post beast like D12 and teams with double up him.. Dont really understand what Hornets are doing..
Also the Raptors with some shitty moves (not talking about lowry cause that was a good move) cause picking Ross was a bit higher imo , also why the hell they signed Fields on an offer shit.. Fields , Derozen and Ross all are SG non of them isnt strong enough to play a SF.. thats strange

Cant really see rivers being better than EG , EG is a much better D player and we shouldn't even open a discussion on who is the better atlethic guy between those 2... anderson is also a weird move.. its not like Davis is a post beast like D12 and teams with double up him.. Dont really understand what Hornets are doing..

The thread started the day after the draft. As for Rivers v. Gordon, as much as I love e-Go, he's never been able to stay healthy. It's very likely that he's a 50-60 game per year guy in the future. Austin can shoot the shit out of the ball, no matter what the Wages of Stupidity guys think.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shmip

Also the Raptors with some shitty moves (not talking about lowry cause that was a good move) cause picking Ross was a bit higher imo , also why the hell they signed Fields on an offer shit.. Fields , Derozen and Ross all are SG non of them isnt strong enough to play a SF.. thats strange

I don't really see anyone drafted after Ross that's in anyway superior. While the 2012 draft was deep, it's in terms of NBA rotation players, not stars. The Raptors desperately needed a shooting guard that can actually shoot the ball, and occasionally play some defense. Neither of which DeRozan does. Swinging for the fences with Drummond was certainly an option, but that was a really high risk move with a team that couldn't afford a bust.

Accused of amassing an 18-gun arsenal to protect his drug business, Bjorkstam is said to have defended Swift to police, describing him as a "good guy" who helped him try to collect a heroin debt but did not deal drugs himself.

"People have been ripping me off," Bjorkstam told police, according to charging papers. "Rob and I are trying to put a stop to that."